Dr. Sean Asselin is a Research Scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Dr. Asselin is specialized in plant breeding and the genetics of adaptation of Western Canadian native plant species. His focus is on developing genetically appropriate native plant genetic resources for forage production and landscape restoration in Western Canada, facing the challenges of native plant preservation, and production challenges in their integration into agricultural landscapes to enhance agro-ecosystem resiliency.

Jonathan Bennett is an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan. He received his PhD in grassland community ecology from the University of Alberta and was a PDF at the Universities or Tartu and British Columbia (Okanagan) where he studied invasion ecology and plant-soil interactions. Current work in his lab focuses on understanding plant-soil microbe interactions and the consequences of these interactions for community assembly and ecosystem functioning. His group aims to test ecological theory in applied settings, particularly with respect to invasion and increasing multi-functionality in pasture systems.

Jason Gibbs is an Associate Professor of insect taxonomy specializing on wild bees. His research focuses on the systematics of North American bees and biodiversity and conservation of bees in natural and agricultural systems. His current research focuses on bee taxonomy, phylogenomics, and the effects of landscape management on beneficial insects. He has published >100 scientific papers on various aspects of bee taxonomy, evolution, and ecology.

Seokbum Ko is currently a Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Division of Biomedical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He received his PhD from the University of Rhode Island, USA in 2002. His areas of research interest include computer architecture/arithmetic, efficient hardware implementation of compute-intensive applications, deep learning processor architecture and biomedical engineering. 

Patrick Lloyd-Smith is an Associate Professor in water and resource economics with the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department at the University of Saskatchewan. His research focuses on non-market valuation, water resource economics, and modelling and understanding consumer behaviour. He uses microeconomic theory to guide the implementation of a range of tools to assess research questions in these areas including developing and implementing surveys, employing experimental techniques, and using applied econometrics.

Dr. Sean Prager is an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan. His research centers around the broad topic of insect ecology and includes both fundamental and applied research on a variety of arthropod taxa. Dr. Pragers fundamental research explores the ecology and evolution of multitrophic interactions and adaptive traits, particularly those linked to behavioral choices. On the applied side, Dr. Prager is dedicated to developing ecologically sustainable pest management strategies, especially for disease vectors.

Dr. D.J. Cattani, Is an Associate Professor and Department Head in the Department of Plant Science at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He works with herbaceous perennial species for food, feed and bioenergy. His program provides expertise in the areas of breeding and agronomic production aspects of herbaceous perennials for food and feed, and on agronomics for bioenergy production. Dr Cattani has over 40-years’ experience in herbaceous perennial seed production. He has worked in academia, government (federal and provincial) and private industry. He has been working on the breeding and agronomy of intermediate wheatgrass for food production since 2010. 

Dr. Hongjie Zhang is a Research Scientist at the Swift Current Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). His research focuses on enhancing the environmental sustainability and resilience of agroecosystems through improved soil health, soil carbon (C) cycling, and agronomy. His research goal is to increase soil C sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in integrated cropping–livestock systems across the Canadian Prairies, thereby enhancing agroecosystem resilience and productivity. To achieve this, he applies stable isotope tracers (¹³C and ¹⁵N) along with advanced spectroscopic techniques—including solid-state ¹³C NMR (CPMAS NMR) and synchrotron-based XANES—to trace the fate of C and nitrogen (N) in plant–soil systems and characterize soil organic carbon (SOC) chemistry. Overall, his research examines how soil management and agricultural practices influence the turnover of C and N inputs, the formation of stable soil organic matter, and the buildup of SOC in cropping and livestock systems to support long-term sustainability and productivity.